Forgot Passcode? How to Restore iPhone Without Losing Data

If you’ve forgotten your passcode, you’re locked out of your iPhone. Sadly, there’s no way to recover the passcode itself. It’s gone. But not all is lost. In cases like this, your biggest worry is about the data. What if you end up losing all your precious photos and messages? Don’t worry, there’s a safe way out.

You can still restore your iPhone to the state that it was before you were locked out. And you won’t even lose any of your data in the process. The process is going to be a bit convoluted. You’ll have to erase your phone and then restore it again. But you’ll be able to restore the data from a backup.

The Catch…

Even if your iPhone is locked, you can still back it up. This is the only official way to restore the iPhone without losing the data.

Don’t worry, as long as you’ve backed up your iPhone to a computer once, and you’ve added the Mac or PC to the trusted devices list, you’ll be able to back up the iPhone again, without unlocking it first. But if you haven’t backed up your iPhone to a Mac or PC previously, this method won’t work.

Step 1: Connect your iPhone to the Mac or PC using the Lightning cable.

Wait until the back up is complete. Go back to the main menu and you’ll see the time stamp for the latest backup. Confirm that it is for the backup you just made.

If the backup isn’t working automatically, you might have turned on a feature that prevents iOS devices from syncing automatically. Open the iTunes Preferences, go to Devices and uncheck the Prevent iPods, iPhones and iPads from syncing automatically.

How to Remove Passcode By Restoring iPhone or iPad Using iTunes

The next thing you need to do is restore your iPhone or iPad using iTunes. This is like performing a factory reset on the iPhone using iTunes. Your iPhone will be wiped and it will reinstall the latest operating system. When the process is complete, your iPhone will be in the state that it was when you got it brand new.

If you’ve got the backup, you don’t need to worry. After the iPhone has been wiped, we’ll be restoring the backup we took in the step above.

Step 1: If your iPhone is still connected to the computer, go to the main menu in iTunes and select your device. Now, click on the Restore button.

Step 2: Authenticate and confirm your action on the next step and wait. iTunes will download the latest software and will install it on the device. This can take more than 30 minutes, depending on your internet connection.

Step 3: Once the restore process is done, iTunes will ask you how you want to set up the new device. From here, choose the Restore from iTunes backup option. Choose the most recent backup.

Once the restore is complete, you’ll be presented with the iPhone in the state that it was previously. All your apps and data should be right there.

How to Turn Off Find my iPhone From Anywhere

If your iPhone is locked up and it has Find my iPhone enabled, you might have issues restoring it. If Find my iPhone is turned on, the activation lock is enabled as well. Before you use a third party app to remove the passcode lock (we’ll talk about it more below), you should first disable Find my iPhone.

Thankfully, you can do this from any web browser. Open iCloud.com and log in with the Apple ID associated with the iOS device. Then click on the Devices button. From the list, find the iOS device and click the X button next to it. The device will be removed from your iCloud account and Find my iPhone will be disabled as well.

Other Alternatives

If you don’t have a backup and you’re locked out of your iPhone, sadly, there’s no official way to restore your iPhone without losing the data. You’ll have to put your iPhone in recovery mode and restore it using iTunes. But this way you’ll lose all data.

One way out of this is by using iCloud backup. If you’ve enabled iCloud Backup for contacts, apps or app data, you can restore it all after resetting the device without any issue. Just remember to log into iCloud.com and remove the device from Find my iPhone before logging into it again.

Alternatively, you can use third-party apps and services for unlocking your iPhone. We’ve previously talked about dr.fone’s Toolkit. Using their repair feature, you can unlock the iPhone without losing data. But it’s a paid app and the mileage will vary based on which version of iOS you’re running.

But if nothing else is working, you should try using dr.fone’s iPhone unlock tool. This tool will restore your iPhone by reinstalling the operating system (to the latest iOS version). And in doing so, it will reset everything about the OS to the default, including removing the passcode. But it will

Step 1: Launch dr.fone app and click on the select the Unlock tool.

Step 2: After reading through the terms and implications, click on the Start button.

Step 3: You’ll now need to put your iPhone into recovery (DFU) mode. On your iPhone 8 or iPhone X style device (with a notch), press and hold the Power (or Side button) and Volume Down button together for 10 seconds. Now let go of the Power/Side button and keep holding the Volume Down button until your device enters recovery mode. If you’re using an older iPhone, use the Home + Power button combination instead.

Step 4: In the next step confirm the details of your iOS device and download the latest firmware.

Step 5: Once the firmware has been downloaded, click on the Unlock Now button and wait. Let the app do its thing. The app will reinstall the OS. This can take some time.

Step 6: If the process was successful, you’ll see that your phone lock was removed successfully. If it didn’t work on the first try, don’t be discouraged. Try once more.

How Did It Work Out For You?

Were you able to successfully restore the iPhone without losing the data? Or did you not have a backup to go with? Did you use a third party tool as we’ve highlighted above? Share your experience with us in the comments below.

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